Gambling Against the State: The State and the Legitimation of Gambling

Gambling has come to be legitimated in many western countries since the reintroduction of lotteries as methods of revenue generation for the state in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, state-sanctioned gambling opportunities have expanded to include casino games, sports betting, video lottery terminals, scratch and win games and others as governments seek to increase revenues. The article analyses the state’s role in the legitimation, expansion and marketing of gambling activities, and discusses the major cultural and ideological implications of this development. It argues that this legitimation must be seen in the context of broader social and economic forces related to the deregulation of markets. The legitimation of gambling illustrates the shift in social and economic morality away from the ‘rational’ basis of capitalism in Protestant ethics, and towards the deregulation of economic attitudes. While this shift suggests a further rationalizing of economic activity and attitudes, the analysis of the broader cultural implications illustrates the tension between the rational and irrational forces in late capitalism. The article focuses on developments in western countries, but state-sanctioned gambling is expanding in non-western countries as well.